Why The World Famous Large Stainless Steel Bean Sculpture “Cloud Gate” Welded So Perfect ?

The Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by India-born British artist Sir Anish Cafuar, the center of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park, in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The sculptures and AT&T Plaza are located on the Park grill between the Chase promenade and the McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink.

Its sculptures, which were built between 2004 and 2006, are called Bean for their shape. They are made of 168 stainless steel sheets welded together and there is no visible seam on the highly polished outer surface. It is 33 x 66 x 42 ft (10 x 20 x 13 m) and 110 tons (100 tons; 98 tons).

Today, let’s study how the cloud gate made.

First of all, we must build an internal support truss.This first shelf is not very stable? Will you roll yourself down? Not because it has parts buried below the ground.Anyway, everything that our structural engineers have designed, you won’t see it in the end!

Then,Install  the first steel plate of the Cloud Gate, the middle one.Then install the steel plate in turn, you can see the stiffener on the reverse side of the steel plate and the temporary protective film on the front side. The steel plate is only fixed to the truss with temporary support and turn-buckle, and is not welded, but is fixed at the position where it should be.

Each individual steel plate is CNC machined at the factory, all 3/8 inch thick stainless steel. After the plasma torch was cut, it was formed by a coiler specially designed for this project, and then the stiffeners on the inner surface were welded. Finally, the final dimensions were inspected using 3D scanning techniques, and the appropriate places were hand-polished to the nearest thousandth of an inch.

The Bean is taking shape. Note that the steel plate and the steel plate are virtually completely independent, but the joints are fixed in the correct position. Almost 100% perfect seams, almost no extrusion and deformation. And ,I immediately fell into the ceiling.

This is actually the case. Each piece of steel plate must be fixed separately, not relying on any steel plate around it, thus minimizing the possibility of deformation.Install the last piece! Hey! Is there anyone inside? Anyone else?

The steel plate and the steel plate are fixed by spot welding.

Rebuild a full circle of scaffolding around. Full penetration welds, but only on the outside, laser welding all welds. Noting the shape of this Bean means that the worker’s master welding different welds requires a variety of different “sports”. Moreover, the psychology of the workers’ masters is still very tense. In case of welding, who is this?

Polish the weld. The goal is not just to make it impossible to see the weld at a glance, but to make it impossible for everyone to see the weld in all situations.

Polished in turn of the Cloud Gate, gradually polished, from coarse to fine, until the jewelry level is polished. After the completion in 2005, it is now the effect!

In 2007, the Cloud Gate also received the American Welding Association’s Industry Outstanding Achievement Award.